Garage Door Openers Are Very Convenient – Until They Break

Garage door openers are very handy. Using a remote control they allow us to open our garage doors from our cars. With a handy button on the wall, we can open our garage doors with the strength of our index finger. What convenience!

There is a small flaw and the slaw though. As with every electrical or mechanical device there comes a time when the garage door opener doesn’t work. The question is “What to do now?”.

Your first impulse may be to run to your computer, type in “garage door opener” in your favorite search engine and begin researching. Or, you may just look for the first phone number you can find for someone to call to take care of the problem.

There are some things about garage doors that you shouldn’t try to do on your own. Mainly replacing broken torsion springs. But garage door openers can possibly be fixed by a DIY type of homeowner.

In trouble shooting, the first thing you should check are the controlling devices. You’ll need to check your remote control and the control that is attached to the wall.

For the garage door remote, it’s a simple matter to check the batteries. No big deal here.

The wall controller may be a little more to deal with. There is some power going to the switch. You’ll want to check the continuity of the electrical leads going to the unit. The outlet plug may be loose or perhaps there is some damage to the wire going to the garage door controller.

After you check for electrical or control unit problems you’ll want to check for obstructions in the track. The tracks must be free from any kind of material that would interfere with the operation of your garage door.

Also the tracks can become dented. These dents will cause the door not to operate correctly and may stop the door literally in its tracks. Aside from removing material in the tracks, there is not much a homeowner can do if the tracks need replaced. That is a job for garage door professionals.

One other thing a DIYer can check is the “stop/reverse” light. If the light is blocked or no longer points in the correct direction then your garage door door won’t work.

If you’ve diagnosed your garage door problem and you’ve determined that it is beyond your means to fix it yourself, the next thing to do is call a garage door repair company. For a licensed and insured company just call the number in the red stripe above